Siddhartha

Acceptance

by Angela van Aubel

Swami Deva Siddhartha (Theo van Langen) left his body Sunday evening, 28 April 2024. He has been able to live through and witness the long disease process of Parkinson’s with a deep sense of acceptance. To be present during his transition has been a very intense experience for me.

We celebrated Siddhartha’s life and death according to his wishes in a small setting. He had chosen his own music: ‘Never born, never died’ and ‘Home is where the heart is’. The last song is probably familiar to all of you!

Omkar and Divyam and others present sang the song ‘Fly high’ during the celebration and satsang they had organized. This song is a beautiful metaphor for Siddhartha’s departure from his body.

Dear soulmate, fly high…

In love, trust and gratitude,

Angela van Aubel

Inspiration

by Omkar and Divyam

Rashma, Siddhartha, Ted and Sarojini were the ones who had started the first body-oriented therapeutic therapy trainings and workshops inspired by Osho in the Netherlands. From this, later on, emerged Neo-Hypnotherapy.

Omkar became the first Neo-Hypnotherapy graduate. Although he had already made much progress, he could not yet figure out the concept of the inner child. Until he became acquainted with Siddhartha’s idea of the ‘problem child’; it made all the difference! Siddhartha became such an inspiration, dear teacher and friend to him.

Siddhartha had also encouraged Omkar to follow his own path. He specially came several times from his home in Belgium to Groningen to supervise Omkar while he lead a workshop. Later we also benefited from his supervision on certain issues regarding our Aumm Institute. We also went to his place, the Marckhoeve, to lead Primal Therapy.

He was our inspiration. Through him the Inner Child Work got ‘hands and feet’, as Omkar always says, which allowed Primal Rebirth Therapy to be developed.

We regularly met in Poona, and shared our love for Osho. Especially in recent years, we were inspired and touched by his meditation and silence, awareness, his love for Osho and his interest in everything about life. Although we recently no longer met physically, we still kept in touch.

During the celebration we gave him a ‘Fly high’, which we think he must have enjoyed.

Omkar and Divyam
Aumm Institute

Bio

Siddhartha was ordained a Catholic priest when he was 25 years old. He was part of a group called, De Zingende Paters Van Stein (The Four Singing Fathers) for which he wrote many songs.

When the famous Dutch comedian Wim Sonneveld’s persiflage, Frater Venantius, came out – unlike the many Catholics who were terribly annoyed by it – he had a good laugh and wrote a song about it, Ik Heb Vannacht Gedroomd, O Heer, where two of the stanzas read [translation by Srajan, ed.]:

Last night I dreamt, Oh Lord,
the Singing Father in his wake
another southern sun song
on Sonneveld would make. (Sonneveld = sun field)

Last night I dreamt, Oh Lord,
that all was laughter and smiles
but after waking, Thou spoke:
”t will happen, but not for a little while…’

His interest in the mystical side of life brought him to Osho in Poona where he took sannyas in 1978.

“Osho was my most important teacher. Through him I also started to appreciate and love Jesus Christ and Buddha. Through him I met many new teachers and I also learned being with people I met on the path. Through him I could cope with the pain, old age and the Parkinson’s disease.

“Angela has also been of great importance in this process. And her grandchildren, Janneke and Bram, were delightful mirrors of my own inner child.”

And every day we see life moving into death so calmly, so quietly, without making any fuss. You cannot hear even the footsteps of death. There cannot be any contradiction. And those who know, know the other side also – that death goes on moving into new forms of life. All distinctions are man-made – existence is distinctionless.

Osho, Light on the Path, Ch 11, Q 1

(quote selected by Siddhartha)

Siddhartha wrote a number of books (in Dutch):

• In de ban van je kinderbeelden (Under the Spell of Your Childhood Images)
• Uit de ban van je kinderbeelden (Out of the Spell of Your Child Images)
• Heel je kind (Healing Your Child. Also: Your Whole Child)
• Van Rome naar Poona (From Rome to Poona)

Thanks to Divyam and Srajan

More Tributes

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